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April 2, 2019

Graduate School to host Three Minute Thesis Competition

The seventh annual Three Minute Thesis competition will feature finalist presentations at 7 p.m. April 16 in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse. The event, sponsored by Purdue's Graduate School , is free and open to the public.

Graduate students participating in the cross-disciplinary competition will have three minutes to present their research results and its significance to judges and audience members. The competition encourages students to develop the ability to effectively and succinctly explain their research in language appropriate for a nonspecialist audience. Participants will be judged on three criteria: their communication style, ability to help audience members comprehend their research, and their ability to engage listeners.

The competition, developed by Australia’s University of Queensland in 2008, challenges students to consolidate their ideas and crystallize their research discoveries. There are restrictions for participants; for example, only a single static PowerPoint slide is permitted, and no props are allowed.

Audience members will have the opportunity to vote for the recipient of a People's Choice award. The winner of the competition will receive $2,000, a runner-up $1,000 and the People's Choice awardee $1,000.

For more information about the Three Minute Thesis Competition, contact the Graduate School at [email protected] .

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Three-Minute Thesis

A competition developed by The University of Queensland, Three Minute Thesis develops academic, presentation and research-communication skills, helping students to effectively explain their research to a non-specialist audience.

Congratulations to Our Winners!

We are pleased to announce this year’s Three-Minute Thesis competition winners. Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s competition

Undergraduate

Congrats to Mateo Garcia (center) for earning second place in the undergraduate category for PNW’s 2022 Three-Minute Thesis competition. From left to right: workshop presenter Erin Protsman, judge Tony Sindone, Garcia, judge Carin Chuang, judge Jean Jiang and Director of Graduate Studies Joy Colwell.

• Kevin Davis (not pictured)
• Mateo Garcia
• Wendy St. Jean
• Tony Sindone

Congrats to Chukwenudum Uzor (center right) and Maeve Cucolotto (center left) for earning first and second place respectively in the graduate category for PNW’s 2022 Three-Minute Thesis competition. From left to right: workshop presenter Erin Protsman, judge Tony Sindone, Cuculotto, Uzor, judge Carin Chuang, judge Jean Jiang and Director of Graduate Studies Joy Colwell.

Winner (Tie)

• Chukwenudum Uzor
• Congshan Mao (not pictured)
• Maeve Cuculotto

Who’s Eligible?

Currently active senior undergraduate students and graduate students are eligible to participate in 3MT®. Graduate and undergraduates present in separate rounds. Work presented must have been conducted at PNW and should be in the final stages so you have some sound conclusions and impacts from your research.

Capstone projects are accepted for competition. These projects must include a level of research and scholarship. Previous graduates are not eligible.

About The 3MT

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®)  is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UC), Australia. The competition develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of students’ capacities to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

3MT® is a fast-paced competition presented in only three minutes with only one slide. It is not an exercise in trivializing or “dumbing down” research, but challenges students to consolidate their ideas and research discoveries. During each competition, participants will have three minutes to present a compelling discussion on their research topic, including its significance and relevance, to the general public.

Rules and Guidelines

Competition Rules

Explore eligibility from judging criteria, see how the 3MT® competition operates.

Explore Rules

Participant Guidelines

Competing in 3MT®? See our pointers, from writing to creating your slide!

Discover 3MT® Tips

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PVM Graduate Student is Finalist in Three Minute Thesis Competition

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Congratulations to Kerri Rodriguez, graduate student of human-animal interaction in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, who is one of ten finalists in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition at Purdue.  Developed by The University of Queensland, 3MT is a research communication competition designed to enhance academic, presentation, and research communication skills and support the development of students’ capacities to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but nonspecialist audience.

Purdue holds its annual 3MT competition each spring as a celebration of the discoveries made by graduate students and to allow the broader community to learn about ongoing research at Purdue.  It is free and open to the public. 

The Final 3MT Competition will be this Tuesday, April 16, at 7:00 p.m., in the Loeb Playhouse in Stewart Center.  Cash prizes will be awarded to three winners, including the “People’s Choice Award” recipient, who will be selected by audience members using clickers.  The other award selections will be made by a panel of judges.  Evaluations are based on communication style, comprehension, and engagement.  The winners will be announced at the conclusion of the program, which will be followed by a reception sponsored by the Purdue University President’s Council.

In addition to Kerri, the other finalists who will be making presentations are:

• Megan LaFollette, Animal Sciences, College of Agriculture
• Jacob Pecenka, Entomology, College of Agriculture
• Erin Sorlien, Biochemistry, College of Agriculture
• Punyashloka Debashis, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
• Mohamadreza Moini, Civil Engineering, College of Engineering
• Mychaela Coyne, Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences
• Svetlana Beilfuss, Economics, Krannert School of Management
• Nivedita Shetty, Industrial and Physical Pharmacy (IPPH), College of Pharmacy
• Mingding Wang, Chemistry, College of Science

Currently enrolled graduate students in all disciplines at Purdue University are eligible to participate in 3MT.  The research presented must have been conducted at Purdue University, not from a previous degree, and should be in the final stages.  Click here for more information about 3MT at Purdue .

Writer(s): Kevin Doerr | [email protected]

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Regulation of growth and nutrient digestibility by supplemental myo-inositol and luteolin in pigs and chickens

Newborn animals undergo a lot of early-life stress that heavily impact on their long-term growth, performance, and welfare. Typically, the stress would indirectly interfere with the capacity of these neonates to utilize dietary nutrients and consequently impact tissue growth and development. In piglets, weaning is a stressful situation characterized by disruption of intestinal epithelial cell development which causes poor digestion of solid feed and a negative impact on absorption of nutrients especially in the post-gastric region. In addition, weaning in piglets could cause an increase in cellular assault by reactive oxygen species thereby potentially causing gut leakiness and paracellular loss of nutrients along the intestinal tract. In broiler chickens, access to feed may take up to 72 h following hatching which may affect their gut development as well as their gut microbiota. After the first feed ingestion, there is a sharp increase in the gut microbiota which triggers an increase in the development of the immune system as well as the gut. There is continuous attention on the strategies and nutritional interventions to mitigate or ameliorate the adverse effects of early life stressors in these food animals, especially in broiler chickens and piglets. In the studies described in this dissertation, myo-inositol (purely supplemented or phytase-induced) and luteolin were tested as nutritional strategies to mitigate the effects of early-life stressors on growth and the potential mechanisms by which myo-inositol and luteolin regulate growth were investigated.

In study I, the effect of myo-inositol on growth in 128 postweaning piglets fed protein-deficient corn-soy diets was tested. There were 4 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with body weight as the blocking factor. The treatments consisted of 1 positive control (PC) diet formulated to meet all the nutrient requirements of the piglets with a 20% crude protein (CP); the remaining 3 diets were the negative control (NC) diets with a 3% reduction in CP, a 2 g/kg myo-inositol supplemented negative control diet (NC+INO), and phytase (3,000 FTU/kg) supplemented negative control (NC+PHY) diet. The results showed that phytase enhanced the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of P in the weanling pigs. Myo-inositol supplementation in a protein-deficient diet improved (P < 0.05) porcine plasma myo-inositol concentration while an in vitro myo-inositol incubation with intestinal epithelial cells increased the expression of genes that encode for Claudin-1, Claudin-3, Claudin-4, ZO-1, NaPiIIb, GLUT2, and SLC7A2. The in vitro analysis of tight junction integrity in the IPEC-J2 cells indicated by the transepithelial electrical resistance and FITC-Dextran permeability showed an enhancement in response to myo-inositol treatment. Although the in vivo study found that myo-inositol did not improve growth performance or ATTD, the in vitro myo-inositol enhanced markers of gut health and function.

In study II, the effect of myo-inositol on the growth of broiler chickens was tested. In this study, there were 6 experimental treatments based on two dietary protein levels (PC and NC) and three supplement types (BASAL, INO, and PHY) resulting in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. A total of 384 broiler chickens comprising 6 treatments with eight replicates per treatment and 8 birds per replicate were used. The birds were fed a common starter diet for the initial 7 days after they arrived at the poultry unit followed by a 14-day trial. The protein-deficient diet decreased the feed efficiency of the birds. Phytase addition increased (P < 0.05) the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and ATTD of P and Ca in both PC and NC groups. The jejunal gut morphology was enhanced by supplemental phytase as indicated by an increase in villus height and the ratio of the villus height-to-crypt depth, coupled with an increase in serum myo-inositol concentration caused by both myo-inositol and phytase. In conclusion, myo-inositol showed a differential influence on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and gut morphology.

In study III, the effects of luteolin on weanling pigs and IPEC-J2 cells were examined. A total of 48 piglets were randomly allotted to two dietary treatments consisting of a control group and a luteolin (LUT)-supplemented dietary group for a 4-week trial. A weekly assessment of the growth performance and expression of specific proteins in the jejunal mucosa was performed. In each dietary group, 8 piglets were slaughtered at weeks 1, 2, and 4 postweaning to collect blood, jejunal and ileal mucosa, and tissues. Luteolin supplementation numerically improved the ADG and G:F of the pigs. Luteolin feeding altered the jejunal and ileal gut morphology with increased villi height (P < 0.05) and villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (VCR, P < 0.05) in the jejunum and decreased crypt depth in the ileum. The effect of luteolin on IPEC-J2 global proteome and phosphor-proteome showed that luteolin could potentially improve intestinal barrier integrity by enhancing the abundance of proteins important in cell growth and survival.

In summary, dietary supplementation with myo-inositol and luteolin could regulate growth and nutrient digestibility in broiler chickens and weanling pigs by enhancing the integrity of intestinal cells and facilitating the expression of nutrient transporters that are significant in the uptake of nutrients across the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. Phytase supplementation improves the P release from phytate in the diets thereby alleviating its loss.

Degree Type

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Animal Sciences

Campus location

• West Lafayette

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Additional committee member 2, additional committee member 3, additional committee member 4, additional committee member 5, usage metrics.

• Animal nutrition
• Animal growth and development
• Food technology
• Food nutritional balance
• Cell development, proliferation and death
• Cell metabolism
• Proteomics and intermolecular interactions (excl. medical proteomics)
• Systems biology

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Life Inspired Week: HHS Research Poster Symposium and Three-Minute Thesis Presentations and Competition

Friday, March 31, 2023

Poster Session: 9:00-10:30 a.m. ET Purdue Memorial Union, East and West Faculty Lounges

Join us for this exciting event to share and learn about research being conducted in our college by faculty, postdoctoral research scholars, graduate students and undergraduate students! Cash prizes for 1st ($300), 2nd ($200) and 3rd ($100) place will be presented within each HHS Signature Area (awards for student posters only).

Three-Minute Thesis: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 P.M. ET Purdue Memorial Union, East Lounge

Come and hear outstanding HHS graduate students and faculty present their research thesis in just three minutes. Cash prizes for 1st ($300), 2nd ($200) and 3rd ($100) place will be presented. Faculty awards (gift cards) will also be presented.

Awards for the poster session and Three-Minute Thesis Competition will be announced between 12 -12:15 p.m.

Free and open to HHS faculty, staff and students. No registration required to attend this event.

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Four Win Prizes in Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

by Holly Foster

May 14, 2024

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Open to all members of the senior class, the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition offers cash prizes to students who can most effectively summarize their senior research projects in three minutes or fewer. In addition, participants must tailor their explanations to a broad audience.

The first,- second-, and third-place prizes were determined by a panel of judges from the Clinton and Utica area; the People's Choice Award goes to the speaker with the most audience votes.

History major Hannah Jablons ’24 took second place with her presentation titled Dan’s Manhattan Plaza , and interdisciplinary concentrator in public health Aliana Potter ’24 won third with Primary Care Provider Practice Patterns in Health Provider Shortage Areas and non-HPSAs. Biology major Bobbi Roca ’24 won the People’s Choice award for her speech  Climate Change and Trees: Which ones are built different.

Hamilton is one of only a few undergraduate institutions that sponsors the competition. Three Minute Thesis traditionally “celebrates the exciting research conducted by Ph.D. students. Developed by the University of Queensland, the exercise cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills.”

Funding for the 3MT at Hamilton comes from the Ferguson Endowment, which advances oral communication across campus.

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